Former Sen. Joe Lieberman revealed on Wednesday that when he met with President Trump while we was in the running for the nomination for FBI director, he was never asked to give a loyalty pledge.
In planned testimony that Comey is set to deliver in front of lawmakers on Thursday, he will say that Trump said to him in January of over dinner: “I need loyalty; I expect loyalty.”
While Trump allies have dismissed this statement as being misunderstood, Democrats and some Republicans argue that it if Trump did indeed ask for loyalty, that would be inappropriate.
Lieberman, a former independent senator from Connecticut, was in the running to be nominated to take Comey’s job. In mid-May, before dropping out of contention, he said Trump never made such a request of him.
“I can say he did not make any demand like that at all. … In fact, you might say the contrary,” he said on CNN.
Lieberman did take issue with Comey’s assertion that Trump asked him not to pursue an investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn.
Calling it the “most serious allegation” in the prepared remarks, Lieberman added that “the president, I presume, will say that he never said anything like that.”
